The Grenada gazette. (Grenada, Miss.) 1885-18??, 1887-07-09

That was what every body else wa
saying next morning. You couldn',
put a six-pounder brass cannon. wheels
and all, into = bottle and cork it NJ
and hide it. Every body looked for i
everywhere. and the academy trustees
even went away outside Of the village
and were sure there was no kind o
artillery in any barn for miles ant
miles. There were no woods arounG
that could hide . thing like that, ant
it began to look as If it must have beor
buried somewhere. They looked into
all the wells. and Uncle Jed said he
had heard from all the meeting. houses
He met Joe Slocum away uptown. and
when Joe stood still, and began to hold
his breath hard. and grow red in the
face, Uncle Jed grew pretty red him.
self. and breathed hard, and winkcd.
and ratified his keys. and said:
mo! no! Keep still. Don't tell ne
a word. Not now. Mustn't know any.
thing about it. We must all hold in
TIL AFTER the fOurJn.
Something like fortnight before that
the trustees had held a meeting, and
had decided that the cannon should not
be fired on the Fourth Of July. 1t was
Deacon Pettigrew's work, and it only
passed by one majority, and Uncle Jed
had said as much to Joe Slocum next
morning, and he had added:
your father and l did our best, but
we were outvoted. Sorry, my boy
sorry. Used to be a boy myself. The
cannon-house II be locked up from
you. Joe my boy. and the keys hang
ing behind the door now in my Office
back of the store. and old Pettigrew
said he'd ONE and get it, and make
sure it was all right, and have a watch
kept, and there's no chance for you.
Sorry"
He looked as if he was, and Joe SYM
pathiscd with him a good deal, and so
did Ned Bright and George Keep and a
lot of other feRnws. and it was not long
before he had one hundred and twenty
eight sympathizers-may be one hun
dred and twcnty-nine-all boys.
When Deacon Pctt;grew at last went
to BARRIERS store for the key Of the
cannon-house. he found it in its old
place behind the office door, just where
it had hung for twenty years. or may
be thirty years, and Uncle Jedediah
was tremendously busy with some Gus
toners, and only nodded. and said:
81 wish you'd keep it and take care OF
it. Some of the boys might get it."
There was nothing double or dis
honest about Uncle Jed. Every body
knew that. He was as simple as a
child, unless he was buying or selling
something, and neither he nor any
body else--that is, not anybody old
enough for their age to tell on them
had been up to see a procession on the
green n morning.
1t was one morning, about four days
after the trustees voted not to let the
cannon be fired. and the procession
walked across the green at a little
after three o'clock. The village itself
all except the procession-was pretty
soundly asleep at that hour, and there
was no kind Of noise made to wake it
up. If it had been n delegation of cats
on their way to attend a convention of
mice. it could not have been quieter.
Bill Hitchcock all but choked himself
to death trying not to cough.
The night was as dark us a pocket,
but there was a light coming through
the cracks of the cannon-house for a
minutes. Then the light went out,
and a great deal of something or other
came away through the front door. 1t
was the procession. and it had hold of
and it was in a remarkable
hurry. 1t went right across the green
and down the main street. 1t marched
for half a mile; until it came to the
bars of the lot just this side of Riggs
mill, where you go down toward the
middle of the mill-pond. 1t is deeper
water there than it is anywhere else,
and nobody ever goes there. The
procession halted at the very brink Of
The mill-pond.
bill, do you s'pose we can ever
haul her out again?"
'Well, Ned, if we can'tdo it, a yoke
Of steers can. Let her run'
Something On wheels went suddenly
trundling down the steep bank, and
in the m%ill-pond alto
"She didn't make much of a splash,
after ALL
''She'll make noise enough the night
the Fourth"
'It's more'n ten feet deep right
where she's lying"
They'll never dream Of hunting for
her there"
Back. now, boys. Take your